WHEN the Mets were born in 1962, they appropriated pinstripes from the Yankees, royal blue from the departed Dodgers and orange from the departed Giants. For better or worse, when the Mets took the field you knew what you were going to get just the way you knew how they were going to be dressed.

Now, nearly a quarter of the way through their 44th season, when the Mets take the field, you’re never quite sure what they’re going to look like, and from either a sartorial or artistic standpoint. Who exactly are these guys, and how exactly are they going to go about beating the opposition? How good are they, really? Or, are they really any good at all?

Yes indeedie, the Mets were 20-19 before last night’s game against the Reds. But let’s not forget that last year after completing a three-game sweep of the Yankees on July 4, the Mets were 41-39 and just two games out of first place in the NL East. Which is to say with the Yankees coming up at Shea for three this weekend, the marathon has not yet even begun, even as the Mets have done enough good things playing for Willie Randolph to create an aura of good feeling in Queens.

They’ve done enough good things even if you can’t quite pinpoint them beyond the winning record. The Mets kind of defy description. They’ve yet to forge an indelible identity.

“Maybe the most noteworthy thing about us is that we’ve been able to find a lot of different ways to win ballgames,” David Wright said in front of his locker at Shea. “We’ve won some games playing long ball, we’ve won other games playing small ball.

“We’ve had some games where our pitchers have bailed us out and others where it’s been the hitters. It seems like we don’t need everything to be perfect for us to win.”

Despite adding Carlos Beltran, the Mets weren’t supposed to be a big-time power team. Yet, even with Beltran at the modest total of six – tied with the seriously struggling Mike Piazza – the Mets went into last night’s game with a league-leading 47 homers. With Jose Reyes at the top of the order, Beltran in the three-hole and speed pretty much all the way through the order, the Mets’ legs on the bases were projected as a trademark. Yet they’d stolen only 19 bases in 32 attempts, the fourth-poorest success ratio in the NL.

The bullpen, projected as an area in need of relief, has lived up (or down) to expectations in late innings, blowing five of 15 save opportunities, but the middle and long relief have been fine. The starting staff was expected to be a strength, but injuries and ineffectiveness have combined to create the very situation in which Victor Zambrano was bumped last night for Kaz Ishii.

The Mets seem as if they scrap, they seem as if they always have some fight, but they were only 6-13 in the games their opponents scored first, and they were 0-16 when trailing after eight. Sometimes notions can be deceiving. Again: Who exactly are these guys?

“The one thing I know about us is that we’re going to be competitive and we’re going to be ready to play,” said Randolph. “Our guys are going to be going after it every day and take their shot.

“We’re still learning about ourselves as a team.”

The Mets might be wearing white, might be wearing black, might be wearing some kind of garish combination. Maybe it’s true that clothes make the baseball team.

“What’s so fun about us is you never really know which team you’re going to get,” Wright said. “Are we going to win by hitting four home runs or are we going to win by hitting behind the runners?